Madame Salmatelli was enthusiastic about her ideal room for decoration, which should be a bright blue instead of a cold white, that each edge of the multi-petal dome should be inlaid with bright gold, that all the roofs should be decorated with stars between the walls, and that at least half of the walls should be plastered with plaster brackets, for Madame Salmatelli had decided to fill the walls with paintings by all the famous artists that could be found in Milan today.

Madame Salmatelli was so excited, for Ludvico's affection for her was almost unstoppable, and even the slightest disagreement over the style of the room was only a tender affair between lovers, which convinced Madame Salmatelli that she could hold on to the Duke of Milan's favorite, and that Ludvico's other mistresses were not even worth mentioning compared to her.

Madame Salmatelli was so immersed in her own happiness that she did not notice the somewhat perfunctory look on the face of the master she had invited to decorate the room, and the other monk next to her was even less conspicuous.

But the Moor, who had been standing in the corner, had been staring at the two men since he entered the door, and if anyone looked closely, he would see that the Moor's eyes were shining, and his tongue was licking slightly, as if he would pounce on them at any moment and swallow them up.

"What do you think, Master?" Madame Salmatelli finally stopped, and looked at the master in front of her with a little expectation, she knew that this man was one of the many artists sponsored by Ludvik, and indeed famous in Milan, but this man's temper was not very good, he had written to Ludviko to complain that he had not fulfilled his promise to make a bronze horse, but had used those materials to forge a cannon, and Madame Salmatelli even remembered some of the contents of the letter, although she had done her best to cover it up, It can still be seen from the letter that the master is angry.

It was precisely because of his bad temper that the artist named Leonardo da Vinci was somewhat coldly received by Ludvico, and the contradictions of his duke's personal director, Giocomte, dealt a severe blow to the master's purse.

If there was one man around Ludviko who could have been more influential than Madame Salmatelli, it was the personal steward, Giokonde.

This loyal servant of Ludviko can be said to have done the best in serving the duke, whether it was to properly settle Ludviko's many mistresses, or to arrange the work of the sponsored artists on behalf of the duke, Gioconde was able to accurately grasp the master's intentions and ideas, and then before Ludviko was distracted by these things, he had already done what he had to do in advance.

Giocomte was so qualified for the job of steward that he became a role model for the Moors, and Ulliu secretly vowed to learn from this master of the housekeeping world, and to one day become a good steward who would make his master feel satisfied, as he did.

However, Gio Comte is not without selfishness, at least in the relationship between Ludwick and Leonardo da Vinci, Gio Comte has not always played a good role.

Although he didn't say anything in front of Ludvik, he never said a good word for Leonardo da Vinci, and on several occasions after Leonardo da Vinci's letter to Ludvik fell into his hands because he was too impulsive, Gio Comte did not return the letter to Leonardo da Vinci, who regretted trying to get it back, but handed the letter directly to Ludvico, which contributed to the conflict between the two even more.

As for the reason why Geo Comte targeted Leonardo da Vinci, it was clear to even Madame Salmatelli.

Leonardo da Vinci once publicly ridiculed Gio Comte as a leper dog next to the duke, because he looked too closely at Ludvico's private vault, da Vinci said to others, "This man should be a three-headed dog from hell, but he looks like a leper dog who has been injured but has not forgotten to wag his tail to his master." ”

No one knows how these words reached Gio Comte, but from that day on, the relationship between Leonardo da Vinci and him became strained, and due to Gio Comte's influence, Ludvik became increasingly cold to Leonardo da Vinci.

Later, Leonardo da Vinci was able to get less and less sponsorship from Ludvico, and the master who was constantly owed wages even had to embark on the difficult road of begging for wages to defend his rights, but the result was not so ideal, at least now he has to work outside the work to maintain his daily expenses.

"What do you think, Master?" Madame Salmatelli asked again, for she still valued the master of Leonardo, whose paintings were evidently not given the attention they deserved, and whose profound attainments in architecture were admired by Madame Salmatelli, and it was for this reason that she was willing to pay a great sum of money to invite the master to decorate the room for herself.

Leonardo da Vinci, who seemed to have been pondering, understood it at the gentle nudge of Brother Luca Pacioli next to him, and he habitually stroked his heavy beard, and then touched the top of his head, which had begun to bow down, before making a simple "um" sound.

"Huh? Are you saying yes or no? Madame Salmatelli was a little displeased, admitting that the man in front of her was indeed very talented, even a true genius, but was dissatisfied with his apparently perfunctory attitude.

Brother Pasioli quietly poked his friend from behind again, and then Leonardo da Vinci, who seemed to have just fully come to his senses, nodded slightly: "Your idea is very original and unique, oh, it should be said that it is too unique, really." ”

Madame Salmatelli looked at Leonardo da Vinci with a little annoyance, at least she couldn't be too stupid to be the most favored mistress by Ludvico's side, in fact, she was not only not stupid but also smart, so she immediately heard not only perfunctory from Leonardo da Vinci's words, but even a hint of mockery.

"Master, I hired you because of your extraordinary skills, so please don't deal with me in such a tone, and if you think there's anything wrong with my idea, you can give better advice."

Lady Salmatelli's words made Brother Pacioli, who was standing behind Leonardo da Vinci, a little nervous, and he had to poke his friend's back with his hand for the third time, this time even because of the force.

"You're completely misunderstood, I mean your idea is really new and unique," perhaps because of the pain of being poked, Leonardo da Vinci finally came to his senses, he took a step forward and bowed slightly to show respect for Madame Salmatelli, and then picked up the drawing in front of Madame Salmatelli and studied it carefully, and then after only a short moment, he picked up the charcoal pen next to him and quickly scribbled on the drawing.

Madame Salmatelli was at first a little worried that his scribbling would destroy the drawings she had prepared, but as time passed, her face gradually showed surprise, then surprise turned to joy, and at last she put her hands lightly over her lips and let out a crushing exclamation.

"God! It's so beautiful, I just want a room like this, Master, you're giving me the most beautiful gift God has ever created. Madame Salmatelli continued incoherently until she sat down and drank a few sips of the wine handed by the maid.

"I could have a portrait of you in this room, but you know I have some important work to do right now. So please be a little patient. ”

Once he saw the situation, Leonardo da Vinci was very clever and told Madame Salmatelli about his situation, believing that this lady should understand what he meant.

Madame Salmatelli nodded slightly, she obviously understood what Leonardo da Vinci was saying, but she was in the excitement right now, so she didn't want to worry about it for the time being.

Brother Pacioli, who had been by Da Vinci's side, saw that Da Vinci seemed to be a little unwilling and wanted to continue to say something, and he immediately coughed lightly to attract the attention of Madame Salmatelli, and then he took a step forward and said to Madame, "Madam, I have one more thing to explain to you, that is, I have some clue about the accounts that you have entrusted me to check for you. ”

Brother Pasioli's words immediately attracted the attention of Madame Salmatelli, who had indeed commissioned the monk to check the accounts of some of her family's business dealings, and that her family, though they had some means in doing business, had nothing to do with the complicated and cumbersome books, so that they could not even figure out whether they were losing money or making money after a while of business because of the confusion of the accounts.

The Luca Pacioli monk, on the other hand, was a mathematical genius with a natural eye for numbers, and as a close friend, the monk volunteered to settle the accounts for Madame Salmatelli's family when he learned that Madame Salmatelli could solve Da Vinci's immediate financial difficulties.

Madame Salmatelli, who was very concerned about the family business, put aside for a moment her interest in decorating the room, and began to talk enthusiastically with the monk, while Leonardo da Vinci stepped aside, and his gaze fell on the whole empty wall, and he looked at the empty wall, and sometimes he glanced back at Madame Salmatelli, and looked at Madame Sarmatelli's smile of relief at the sight of the accounts becoming organized, and at this moment a brilliant idea was quietly brewing in the master's mind.

Ulliu had been honestly standing with the workers, his eyes swept over Leonardo da Vinci, Pacioli, and Madame Salmatelli, but the eyes of his two elderly men were obviously more eager than the beautiful lady, and at the same time his mind kept echoing the command of Alexander's letter: "Find those two men, for they are always inseparable, so it should not be very difficult to find them at the same time, and then everything will be left to you, Get those two people to Pisa or Montina, and remember that it's all going to be done by June. ”

Ullius pondered Alexander's commands, and although he did not quite understand why his master was suddenly so interested in a painter and a monk, he was already thinking about how to take these two men out of Milan with Giocomte as an example for the stewardship.

A bell rang out the window, the bell of the second daily morning prayer in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie not far away, and almost the signal for the start of the day in Milan, with which the whole city seemed to wake up from its slumber and people began to go out of their homes to make a living, and Ludvico, Duke of Mulan, would go to the balcony outside his room shortly after the bell rang to greet the officials waiting in the courtyard.

Madame Salmatelli hastily took her own with Leonardo da Vinci and Brother Pacioli, and she was to have breakfast with Ludvico, not because she was hungry, but simply to show everyone that she was important to Ludvico.

"Rest assured, I will tell the Duke about your situation," said Madame Salmatelli to Leonardo da Vinci before hurrying away, "but you should understand that the Duke is not in a good situation at the moment, so be patient, as you said to me. ”

With that, Lady Salmatelli left the others in the room and hurried away with the maid.

"Why are you stopping me?!"

Almost as soon as Madame Salmatelli disappeared outside the door of the living room, Leonardo da Vinci, who had always seemed to be very quiet, suddenly complained loudly to Brother Pacioli, and he said to the monk in a very annoyed tone, completely ignoring the workers who were standing not far away and looking at him in a stunned tone, "You know that my workshop is in a terrible situation right now, I have not received a ducat's grant from the Duke for three months, and I have to not only create but also feed a large number of people, But look at the lady's reaction when I spoke of my situation, and I even wondered if she had forgotten about it as soon as she came out of the room, and then I had to wait any longer. ”

Brother Pasioli listened silently, he seemed accustomed to listening to his friend's complaints so silently, but when he heard Leonardo da Vinci say something a little too excited, his eyes looked at the craftsmen beside him.

Leonardo da Vinci also seemed to be aware of the presence of others in the room, and he and the monk walked together to the balcony outside the living room, and then the two men lowered their voices and argued fiercely.

Ulliu loaded the materials to carry the room, and he walked closer to the balcony and listened carefully.

"Ludviko disappointed me, I thought he should be someone who could really understand and appreciate my talent, but now it seems that he cares more about the reputation of a patron of the arts than the art itself," Leonardo da Vinci spoke quickly, his tone sounded a little angry but more frustrated and helpless, "I really shouldn't have left Florence in the first place, should I, at least Lorenzo was a person who was really interested in art, although he was the son of a loan shark, But his own noble qualities are enough to prove that the Medici family is a friend of art. ”

Brother Pacioli, who had been silently listening to his friend's complaints, did not gently comfort Leonardo until Leonardo's words came to an end: "Leonardo, since you mentioned the current situation, then we should really think about it, the duke is in a lot of trouble now, and I heard that the French may invade Milan again at any time, which is enough to make the duke scramble, so I think even if you ask the duke again, it will be useless, and you have offended Gio Comte, which makes many people unwilling to help you anymore." ”

"That duke's leper dog," Leonardo da Vinci's angry voice came from the balcony, and then he lowered his voice and said, "Luca, my friend, I know it's a bit selfish to ask, but I wonder if if I were forced to leave Milan, would you go with me?" ”

"Of course, where do you think I'm going?" Without hesitation, the monk replied, "If it weren't for me, you might have gotten into more trouble because of your temper, and there are a lot of letters from Giocomte that you complain about the duke, which makes the duke very unhappy with you, but if they knew how many of these letters I had stopped you, they would probably have driven you out of Milan long ago." ”

Leonardo da Vinci's self-deprecating laughter came from the balcony, which made the atmosphere that sounded a little annoyed between the two of them lightened.

"No matter how you help Madame Salmatelli decorate this room, this is a good opportunity to repair your relationship with the Duke, and as for the reward, you are smart this time, Leonardo, you are indeed a genius, but because of this you have to put away your wings, because for most people, genius is often not accepted."

There was silence on the balcony, and Uliu faintly heard the sound of the two hugging, and he knew that this conversation should be almost over, so he quickly picked up a wooden plank and put it on the scaffolding.

"Moors?" There was an inquiry behind him, and Ulliu turned his head to see Leonardo da Vinci looking at him, "Are you the Moorish that Zorro Astro said?" ”

"If you're talking about the blacksmith, Mr. Zorro Astro, then I'm the Moorish he said." Uliu nodded, a smile on his face.

"I heard Zorro Astro talk about you, he said that you are very diligent in your work, and the merchant who rented the materials for this room also recommended you to work, and everyone said that you can be trusted." Da Vinci nodded casually.

"I think that's what I'm good at, but my previous owners didn't like me very much, and they thought I was thinking too much." Ulliu said, intentionally or unintentionally, stepping aside, revealing a strange ruler made of two connected wooden strips and a horizontal needle on the scaffolding.

The reason why it is said to be a ruler is because there are many obvious scales on the wooden strips.

Leonardo da Vinci, who was still talking to Ulliu, did not notice the strange ruler, but the eyes of Brother Pasioli next to him were immediately attracted by it.

"What is this?"

The monk walked over and picked up the ruler, he first carefully folded the slightly separated ruler, and then gently turned the central axis of the ruler, and watched as the horizontal needle moved slowly on the scales as the ruler opened, and the expression on the monk's face gradually changed from puzzle to surprise.

Brother Pacioli's actions also aroused Da Vinci's curiosity, and he took the ruler and operated it slowly, and when the horizontal needle moved back and forth a few times, Da Vinci raised his head and silently looked at Brother Pacioli.

"Where did you get this thing?" Leonardo da Vinci turned his head to look at Ulliu.

"This is my inheritance." Uliu grinned slightly, revealing a mouth full of snow-white teeth, "That's a long story, it's a sad story......"